| A | B |
|---|
| brain death | neurological definition of death, a person's brain is dead when all electricla activity of the brain has ceased for a specific period of time. A flat EEG recording for a specified period of time is one criterion of brain death |
| living will | a document that ensures the right of individuals to choose whether heroic measures will be used to sustain their lives |
| durable power of attorney | specifies a surrogate person as the legal designate who can make health-care decisions if the individual becomes incapacitated |
| euthanasia | the act of painlessly putting to death persons who are suffering from an incurable disease or severe disability; also called mercy killing |
| active euthanasia | occurs when death is induced deliberately as by the injection of a lethal dose of a drug |
| passive euthanasia | occurs when a person is allowed to die by withholding an available treatment such as withdrawing life support |
| sudden infant death syndrome SIDS | the sudden death of an apparently healthy infant. SIDS occurs most often between 2-4 months. The immediate cause of SIDS is that the infant stops breathing but the underlying cause is not yet known |
| denial and isolation | Kubler-Ross's 1st stage of dying in which the person denies that death is really going to take place |
| anger | 2nd stage of dying en which the person recognizes that denial can no longer be maintained. Denial often gives way to anger, resentment, rage, envy |
| bargaining | 3rd stage of dying in which the person develops the hope that death can somehow be postponed or delayed |
| depression | 4th stage of dying in which the perspm cp,es tp acce[t tje certainty of death. A period of depression or preparatory grief may appear |
| acceptance | 5th stage of dying in which the person develops a sense of peace, an acceptance of one's fate, and in many cases a desire to be left alone |
| hospice | humanized program committed to making the end of life as free from pain, anxiety, and depression as possible. The hospice's goals contrast to those of a hospital which are to cure illness and prolong life |
| grief | emotional numbness, disbelief, separation anxiety, despair, sadness, and loneliness that accompany the loss of someone we love. |
| Suttee | the now outlawed Hindu practice of burning to death the dead man's widow to increase his family's prestige and firmly establish an image of her in his memory |
| Thanatologists | persons who study death and dying |
